The U.S. State Department has made travel easier for transgender people by removing a requirement that applicants must have gender-reassignment surgery before they can have their gender changed on their passports, according to Advocate.com . A trans passport applicant only needs to present proof "from an attending medical physician that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition," a media release from the department stated. National Center for Transgender Equality Executive Director Mara Keisling said that the development is "going to save lives."
The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a legal opinion stating that federal laws should protect gay domestic-violence victims, according to Advocate.com . The opinon relates to the Violence Against Women Act, and states that the 1994 statute should cover victims of same-sex domestic violence. In a press release, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said, "Some of our families, like all Americans, experience domestic violence and those impacted by such violence should enjoy equal protections, and equal dignity, when they seek assistance from law enforcement. We thank the Department of Justice for releasing this important interpretation."
The Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) has ordered that gay and lesbian couples must be treated the same as their heterosexual counterparts accoridng to a California tax law feature, the Wall Street Journal reported. The IRS said that almost 58,000 couples registered as domestic partners in that state must combine their income and each report half of said income on separate tax forms. The development allows a tax benefit same-sex couples did not previously have.
U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, the chairman of the House Armed Service Committee, has said that he is against lifting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because he does not want to start a national discussion about homosexuality. The Missouri Democrat said that he thought repealing the anti-gay policy might make families explain homosexuality to their children: "What do mommies and daddies say to their 7-year-old child?"
In Utah, Republican U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch told a crowd at Dixie State College that the gay community has replaced religion with politics, according to Advocate.com . Speaking to the gathering of approximately 300 people, Hatch said, "Gays and lesbians don't pay tithing; their religion is politics. The Human Rights Campaign's religion and faith program director, Harry Knox, criticized Hatch, saying, "There is no denying that there are millions of LGBT Americans who every day give their time, talent and money to local churches, synagogues and temples all over the country. LGBT religious leaders are often the very ones revitalizing moribund churches and institutions. These committed religious leaders are working to provide a loving alternative to the hopeless hatred people like Senator Hatch call sound doctrine."
In New York City, Brooklyn resident Luis Newman has been accused of an anti-gay hate crime, according to NY1.com . Newman, 43, allegedly threatened two men with a knife and made anti-gay slurs as they were walking down Utica Avenue in Weeksville. Newman is also charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
The Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law has published a report estimating that lifting the blood-donation ban against men who have sex with men ( MSM ) could add almost 220,000 pints each year to the United States' blood supply, according to a press release. The release added that the American Red Cross and the American Association of Blood Banks feel that the current Food and Drug Administration ban is unnecessary. The Department of Health and Human Services is holding hearings on the ban.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( GLAAD ) has announced that Roxanne Jones and Scott E. Miller are co-chairs of its national board of directors. Jones was one of the founding editors of ESPN The Magazine, and will release a book, Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete, later this year. Miller "is a principal with Scott Miller Executive Search and has two decades of experience with leading retained executive search firms, professional services firms and in the public sector," according to the GLAAD press release.
Gay.com has introduced the ultimate Pride Guide, a complete resource for all things gay pride-related, according to a press release. The Pride Guide, hosted in Gay.com's "Happy Trail" travel section, features the pride season's most comprehensive event listings, destination guides, mobile uploading capabilities and pride-adjacent events. Rick Andreoli, Gay.com's editor-in-chief, said, "We took on the job and created a Pride Guide that's both useful and entertaining. ... Readers should get a laugh while learning how to effectively flirt, text friends and score a strong drink from the bartender—and, trust me, those are skills any good gay needs."
A national survey reveals that 63 percent of LGBT individuals oppose Arizona's controversial immigration-reform law, with 45 percent "expressing strong opposition," according to a press release from Harris Interactive. In contrast, approximately 60 percent of heterosexual adults support the state's new immigration policies, with 41 percent saying they "strongly support" the law. Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications, said, "It's not surprising that many LGBT individuals are opposed to many forms of statutory discrimination. As citizens and consumers, LGBT behaviors mirror these attitudes—tending to favor and choose destinations, products and services, as well as making political choices that support equal and respectful treatment for all."
In Massachusetts, gay Catholics are angry that a column in The Pilot, the Boston Catholic archdiocese's newspaper, listed reasons children of gay and lesbian couples should not be in parochial schools—including that said children would bring porn to school, according to an Advocate.com item. Philosophy professor Michael Pakaluk wrote, among other things, that a child of a gay male couple "would bring to school something obscene or pornographic, or refer to such things in conversation, as they go along with the same-sex lifestyle." DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke said she thought the column was "absolutely appalling." Pilot editor Antonio Enrique issued an apology for the article.
Mohamed Hahmood Alessa, a 20-year-old terrorist suspect from New Jersey, exhibited signs of violence early on—including threatening to mutilate gay people, according to an Advocate.com item. When he was 14, he made threats to gays and said he intended to "subordinat [ e ] women and blow up the school with a gang of Muslims." Alessa is one of two men arrested in connection with a reported terrorist plot.
In Minnesota, Edina has become the first suburb in the state to approve a domestic-partner registry, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Edina's city council unanimously backed the largely symbolic policy, which allows committed same- and opposite-sex couples who live together to pay $25 to register a domestic partnership. Minneapolis approved such registries in 1991; Duluth and St. Paul followed suit last year.
Oklahoma City, Okla., City Councilman Brian Walters has compared gay-pride participants to pedophiles and people who commit domestic violence, according to On Top Magazine. Walters, who was the only person in the eight-member council to vote against a special-event permit to hold a gay-pride festival, said, "I'm a born-again Christian and don't believe in the homosexual lifestyle."
In California, the Bay Area has its first transgender rabbi, The Bay Citizen reported. Berkeley's Congregation Beth El has hired Reuben Zellman as its new assistant rabbi and music director. Zellman will join openly gay Rabbi Yoel Kahn at the congregation.
The AIDS Coalition of Southern New Jersey, which had been operating for 22 years, will close this summer, citing a lack of government funding, according to the Philadelphia Gay News. The agency—which offers everything from a food back to tuition assistance for HIV-positive individuals and their families—has seen its federal, state and city funds drop 40 percent over the past few years.
In Washington, D.C., a strip in gay neighborhood Dupont Circle has been renamed in honor of LGBT-rights pioneer Frank Kameny. "Frank Kameny Way" spans a two-block section of 17th Street between P and R streets, N.W. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, District Department of Transportation Supervisor Gabe Klein and Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans took part in the dedication ceremony.
In New York City, all six Manhattan branches of Whole Foods Market recently launched food drives to support the Keith Haring Food Pantry Program at Gay Men's Health Crisis ( GMHC ) , the nation's oldest HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care-services provider, according to a press release. "Whole Foods Market is demonstrating a strong commitment to serving those living with HIV/AIDS in New York City," said Marjorie Hill, Ph.D., CEO of GMHC. "This food drive will mean a further solution to hunger, a healthier life, and overall improved well-being." The vast majority of GMHC's clients live at or below the poverty level, with almost 80 percent earning less than $10,000 annually.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty has lost the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club's mayoral endorsement to city council chair Vincent Gray. With 63 percent of the vote, the LGBT organization favored Gray over Fenty, who signed D.C.'s marriage-equality measure into law last year, according to Advocate.com . The club seem to dislike Fenty's heavy use of notes while speaking before the organization's members.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has voted to keep its policy of banning men from donating blood if they have had sex with another man since 1977, according to WGNTV.com . The policy was instituted in the 1980s when the HIV/AIDS epidemic erupted; however, tests now detect HIV in donated blood. Gay-rights advocates contend that the ban is discriminatory.
